Unlocking the Secrets of Interactive Storytelling: Lessons from a Live-Action Star Trek Simulator

"The pirates are hiding in a nearby nebula," a fleet officer informs us, presenting us with a difficult decision. "We can either explore them one at a time, risking the safety of the convoy, or send probes into each one, which will likely alert the pirates to our presence. Alternatively, we can proceed to the rendezvous point and hope we're not ambushed." We're standing on the bridge of the USC Havock, an immersive Star Trek-style experience created by Parabolic Theatre. The strategies before us come near the end of our mission, and unlike many video game story choices, we can change our approach at any moment. We could stop sending probes and venture into the nebulas ourselves or send out our shuttle crew to cover more ground. The chief engineer, my friend, yelled during the intense battle: "If you lot don't get your act together, I'll hit the self-destruct button." It may seem easy to allow such agency in an immersive theatre experience, given the ability of human actors to improvise and adapt. However, beneath the surface, Bridge Command is essentially a video game. The touchscreen bridge stations are running a modified version of EmptyEpsilon, a bridge simulator available on Steam, which renders the nebulas, space pirates, and allied ships on the main screen. According to Owen Kingston, co-creator of Bridge Command and artistic director of Parabolic Theatre, the show is free from many restrictions that game developers face, and pushing past those restrictions is key to creating an experience like this. "Some immersive experiences essentially clone the decision tree approach from role-playing games or choose-your-own-adventure novels," he explains. "However, this system isn't designed for live environments. In a live experience with dynamic actors, it's foolish not to take advantage of that unique aspect." Kingston notes that instead of using decision trees, Bridge Command missions are written around emotional beats, with staff and actors adapting to the visitors' reactions. "Our rule is, if you come up with something logical, as long as it fits the world of the show, we'll run with it," he says. "We'll bend the story around that. A decision you've made might mean we drop in a new, unique plot beat, but it will fall at the same emotional moment as our planned events." This approach is challenging for video game developers to recreate, but Kingston believes that video games will eventually move away from decision trees and provide more reactive storylines. "Decision trees have a 'computer says no' problem, which is frustrating for players," he explains. "If you can adapt to what seems logical to the player and not limit their options, that's a really cool thing. We can do it because we have live actors, but if you can figure out how to do that in a computer game setting, that's potentially groundbreaking." Bridge Command also offers inspiration for developers working on asymmetric multiplayer games, where one player has a significantly different role than the others. Each station in Bridge Command has unique functionality and interfaces, fostering better teamwork and collaboration. "It ensures everyone is involved; you need everybody's skillset to make the ship fly," Kingston says. The immersive show remembers its players, asking them to create a profile on their first visit and recording their missions, significant events, and notable actions. This information is used to plan out missions for returning players, making the experience feel truly unique to them. Kingston compares it to the nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor, where callbacks to previous events make the player feel like they're part of the world.